DE PALMA SETS RECORD STRAIGHT ON DAFT PUNKWAS NEVER APPROACHED ABOUT DIRECTING A DAFT PUNK VIDEO;"DAFT PUNK EXPRESSED AN INTEREST IN DOING SOMETHING WITH 'PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE'"In a Twitter conversation last month, Empire magazine reviews editor Nick de Semlyen, who had just interviewed Brian De Palma, mentioned that De Palma was going to direct a music video for "the Paul Williams track" on Daft Punk's latest album, but that "it didn't work out."

Yesterday, The Playlist's Drew Taylor interviewed De Palma, and asked him about it. "I don't know where this rumor got started," De Palma said to Taylor. "Let's try to put an end to it here and now. Daft Punk expressed an interest in doing something with Phantom of the Paradise and when I was in Paris I met with them and we discussed it. They were in the process of finishing up their record." De Palma added, "It was never discussed, me doing a video for them. They expressed their excitement for Phantom of the Paradise and somehow, if we have a stage version, they might consider doing music for it. But that was as far as it went. It was very tentative, very initial discussions."

Taylor pressed on for more details about a stage version of Phantom. "They've tried to do a stage production for 30 years," De Palma told him. "Every once in a while there's a lot of excitement about it and then it fades away. It always seems like a good idea to me."

From 2009 until at least 2010, Paul Williams had been working with De Palma and Edward R. Pressman on a stage version of Phantom, something they have taken stabs at off and on for years. De Palma and Williams had tried to get a stage version going in 1987, and in 2003, Antonio Banderas discussed the possibility of taking on the title character for a stage version. For now, however, we have the incredible film from 1974. And, of course, the Baltimore Rock Opera Society.